More than 30 years after the Great Society initiatives, poverty continues to put large numbers of students at risk of school failure. The challenges to education and life success are most severe for children in the nation's poorest rural counties, the 535 rural persistent poverty (RPP) counties. This digest provides background on RPP counties and…

The concept of socioeconomic impact, as it relates to two-year colleges, is examined in terms of studies that have been conducted. Measures of socioeconomic impact, such as personal income, occupational status, levels of education, are discussed and studies focusing on these measures are cited. Additional studies are pointed to which define…